Lynyrd Skynyrd is one of those bands that trigger a whole rush of
memories simply by being mentioned. Some of things that you think of
when you hear the band’s name are great songs, awesome live band,
impeccable musicianship and, unfortunately, tragedy. When Lynyrd
Skynyrd decided to first come back in 1987 (after the plane crash in
1977), I had mixed feelings about this. After all, Ronnie Van Zant was
one of the most identifiable voices and best frontmen in rock ‘n’ roll
history. How can you ever replace that? “Replace” is obviously the
wrong word – Van Zant was irreplaceable. The question is really how do
you front a band like that now? Well, with Ronnie’s brother Johnny Van
Zant, that’s how. I remember hearing Johnny Van Zant for the first
time, thinking, this could work.

Lynyrd Skynyrd is going on 18 years now with Johnny at the helm and
they’re doing quite well, thank you. With their latest release, they’ve
gone back into the vaults and re-released Then and Now, which
originally came out in 2000. This record is a compilation of live
tracks recorded for the album Live From Steel Town and two later studio
releases, Edge of Forever and Twenty. One thing really struck me while
listening to this CD: they are still a great band. Sometimes when a
band or musicians get legendary status, you kind of forget how they got
there. I know that certainly happened for me with Skynyrd. It wasn’t
until my band started playing some of their songs as covers that I
realized they really do kick ass! While listening to this disc, I was
again struck by their talent. I know that some people may find them to
be an easy target with the grandiose endings or chest pumping, Rebel
flag-waving anthems, but you know what this band can still play and
still write really cool rock songs.

The disc starts off with a live cut, my personal favorite “Saturday
Night Special,” which sounds as good today as it did 30 years ago. The
DVD-A mix for all the live songs is set up so it’s like you’re at the
concert, with most of the mix coming at you from your center channel
and two stereo speakers. The surround speakers are acting more like the
back of the arena. Overall, I liked the mix. It sounds like a Skynyrd
concert. The one thing that really surprised me about this disc is the
studio cuts. I haven’t heard a lot of the newer Skynyrd material, but
if these songs are any indication, I’m going to need to pick up some of
their newer albums. These songs rock with as much swagger (if not more)
as the original Lynyrd Skynyrd did. Not only that, but their country
roots now show loud and proud. Heck, today’s country music owes a huge
amount of gratitude to Lynryd Skynyrd. But be not afraid, rockers, this
disc rocks and rocks hard. A couple of the newer studio tunes that
really struck me as cool are “Workin’,” “Gone Fishin’” and “Voodoo
Lake,” which really benefits from the 5.1 mix. This song has a very
swampy feel to it, sounding like it was recorded in the bayou. The
ambience of the song really comes across well in the multi-channel mix;
I’d like to hear more Skynyrd like this. The studio cuts are mixed
pretty much like the live tracks, but they do have a little more
instrumentation in the surround speakers than the live tracks do. With
the live tracks, it’s mostly crowd and back splash in the rear speakers.

The live cuts on this album are all fan favorites: the aforementioned
“Saturday Night Special,” “That Smell,” a great rendition of “Simple
Man,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and of course “Free Bird.” All these songs
come across as you’d expect from a band that’s been playing them for
going on 30 years now. Granted, you’re not going to hear anything truly
new in their material, but would you really want to? Lynyrd Skynyrd has
earned its place in rock history as one of the all-time great live
bands for a reason. Why change a successful recipe? I mean, we all know
how terrific they were (and are) – that is, all of us except for those
morons at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Why is this band not in the
Hall of Fame? Personally, I think they deserve to be in there more than
some of the acts that the Hall of Fame voters have chosen over the past
couple of years (which I’m not going to name, it wasn’t their fault).
The same could be said for Yes, Genesis, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.
But that rant will have to be for another article, back to my review …

If you’re a fan of the jam genre at all, then I would recommend this
disc to you. I mean, really, who help invent the genre after all? If
you’re a fan of Southern rock, then you definitely need to own this
disc. Really, any fan of good rock ‘n’ roll will enjoy this disc. It’s
nice to hear some things don’t change.